Migration and Border Security

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Why have small boat crossings increased so much since Labour was elected, and why did they cancel the Rwanda deterrent before it even started? What are the Home Secretary's plans for an offshore processing scheme?

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Why have visa thresholds not been increased further in April? What about introducing a hard cap on net migration numbers?

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Asked why small boat crossings have increased significantly since the election and questioned the Home Secretary's record. Cited the National Crime Agency and Ursula von der Leyen to argue for a return of the Rwanda deportation scheme, criticised the cancellation of an increase in visa salary thresholds, and called for a hard cap on migration numbers.

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Welcomed additional funding for border security but questioned the use of taxpayers’ money in paying people to go to Rwanda.

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Critiqued the previous government's handling of immigration and called for rebuilding an effective system that works for both the economy and society. Questioned restrictions on recruitment for sectors like hospitality, suggested a carer’s minimum wage to address social care needs, and emphasised cracking down on modern slavery.

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Does the Home Secretary agree that the public are right to be angry about the state of public services, and that the blame lies squarely with 14 years of cuts and mismanagement by Conservative Governments, not with migrants who contribute to their new home? Will she stand up to attempts by Conservative Members to distract from their own failures and divide the country by scapegoating people who just want a better life for themselves and their families?

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The estimated spend on the agreement with Iraq is around £800,000, which compares with, I think, the £476 million being spent on our agreement with France. Has the Home Secretary made an estimate of how much she expects that money will contribute to reducing the numbers crossing the channel?

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As an international liaison prosecutor, my job was to facilitate international co-operation, working with the NCA and overseas authorities. Does the Home Secretary agree that that is the key to smashing the criminal people smuggling gangs, not gimmicks such as the Rwanda scheme?

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I agree with the Home Secretary that the failure of the last Government to control immigration was unconscionable, and our new leader has rightly apologised for our failure. Some of us on the Back Benches warned the Government at the time, but there we are—that is the past. Looking to the future, I agree that we all want to return illegal migrants to where they came from, but will the Home Secretary list the countries that human rights lawyers say are so unsafe that people cannot be returned to them? What is the deterrent for people from those countries if we do not have an offshoring policy?

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I thank the Secretary of State for her statement, and I ask my question in the context of my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I also thank her for talking about the UK’s strong history of welcoming people who are trying to escape persecution. We should not forget that at the heart of the organised people smuggling into this country are people being exploited and dying. The last Government were reduced in their final days to sloganising about people coming on boats, and about the Rwanda scheme, which brought shame on our country.

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Migration plays a significant part in our economy. In the Lake district, 66% of hospitality and tourism businesses report that they are failing to meet demand because of a lack of workforce capacity. Migration is part of the answer. Will the Home Secretary listen to leaders of the Cumbria hospitality and tourism economy and meet them to discuss options such as a youth mobility visa scheme?

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The former Conservative Immigration Minister, the right hon. Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick), has said that the country is “right to be furious” about his party’s record on immigration, and that the Conservatives need to own their failures and change. What is there, in the Conservatives’ obsession with their failed and costly Rwanda programme, to show that they have heeded his warning and changed their approach?

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Can the Home Secretary set out how many hotels have been moved into housing asylum seekers since 4 July? Will she commit to updating the House regularly as to which hotels have been repurposed for that use?

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It is clear that my right hon. Friend inherited a chaotic immigration situation from the last Government, and I commend her on the work she is doing. She rightly focused on international co-operation, but principally on removals. Does she accept that, in a world as interconnected as ours, migration can no longer adequately be managed by treaties that are now more than 70 years out of date? We need to co-operate with our international partners, to create a new structure and a new settlement for managing global migration.

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The absurd and chaotic Brexit—fully supported by those on the Government Front Bench—was supposed to finally satisfy this obsession, but ending free movement has only increased the numbers of people coming here. What is the point of their Brexit, and why has it so spectacularly failed to manage to get a hold on immigration to the UK?

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Will the Home Secretary expand on the measures that we are taking with European neighbours in particular to crack down on these criminal gangs once and for all?

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When will the Secretary of State honour the Government’s manifesto commitment to close asylum hotels?

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Was the Home Secretary as surprised as me to hear that, as part of the £700 million spent by the previous Government on the failed Rwanda scheme, the package of support for volunteers included various benefits at a cost of £150,000 per person? Does she agree it was a waste of money?

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Where did asylum seekers in 2023 come from? Were they overstayers, on student visas, etc.?

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Does she agree that support from the UK and allies for the Kurdistan region in Iraq fosters greater prosperity and stability, reducing corruption and thereby alleviating some of the push factors causing migration to this country?

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Will she assure the House that she will not overdo her requests of other Government Departments, in particular the Ministry of Defence, which historically has been very helpful in finding surplus accommodation to house migrants?

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Does the Home Secretary agree that reducing small boat crossings by more than a third since taking office is pretty decent progress?

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Can the Secretary of State give the assurance that people will not be disadvantaged if their e-visas are not processed by the end of January?

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Does the Home Secretary agree that it is better to train our own people in this country than to repeat the failed Tory policies that left us all poorer?

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In the previous Parliament, Labour consistently voted down stricter border laws. The Iraq deal sounds promising but what difference will £500,000 to the Iraqi Government make?

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Residents in Portsmouth North are concerned about the rising cost of housing asylum seekers, can the Home Secretary say when we expect the cost to reduce?

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What deterrent will the Home Secretary implement for those asylum claimants who have destroyed their papers?

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Does the Home Secretary agree that processing people and sending them abroad is a better deterrent than bribing them to send them over to Rwanda?

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What does the Home Secretary intend to do to remove the pull factor that encourages people to see Britain as an easy touch?

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Who is actually serious on the question of removal or processing agreements with third countries: this Government or Ursula von der Leyen?

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Does the Secretary of State consider it to be in the UK’s own national interest that we confiscate all Russia’s frozen assets, offer the proceeds to the defence of Ukraine and prevent further displacement?

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May I suggest that the Home Secretary should change the rules with a stroke of her pen, and that anyone who is subject to a deportation order should simply be deported?

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Could she comment on whether people in the Home Office will be held accountable for allowing systems and controls to crumble?

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Will the Home Secretary confirm how many country deals are being worked on to ensure that people can be returned to their country of origin, and when does she expect them to have a material impact on the level of migration to the UK?

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Will she consider ending the ban on asylum seekers working, and reducing the time limit to three months so that they can integrate into society?

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What assessment has been made of the extra pressures on vital local services due to illegal economic migrants staying in asylum hotels?

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What reassurances does she have on human rights for those being returned to Iraq? Will human rights always be a red line when striking migration deals?

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What will be done to achieve a reasonable immigration policy? How will those who have not come here legally be dealt with?